Peter Pulzer

Originally published in 1972, this edition includes expanded sections on class and voting and elites and participation in modern democracy. Many popular misconceptions - about the militancy of party activists, the relations between MPs and constituents, the role of TV and the fairness of the electoral system - are critically examined. Equally important is the review of representational theories, from Greek to Victorian, in the light of what we know today about the workings of Parliament, the role of pressure groups and the mixture of rational and irrational motives in human behaviour. A range of twentieth century critiques, including those of Robert Michels, Joseph Schumpeter, Robert Dahl and Peter Bachrach is presented. Wherever possible, British experience is compared with that of the USA, continental Europe or the Commonwealth.

Originally published in 1972, this edition includes expanded sections on class and voting and elites and participation in modern democracy. Many popular misconceptions - about the militancy of party activists, the relations between MPs and constituents, the role of TV and the fairness of the electoral system - are critically examined. Equally important is the review of representational theories, from Greek to Victorian, in the light of what we know today about the workings of Parliament, the role of pressure groups and the mixture of rational and irrational motives in human behaviour. A range of twentieth century critiques, including those of Robert Michels, Joseph Schumpeter, Robert Dahl and Peter Bachrach is presented. Wherever possible, British experience is compared with that of the USA, continental Europe or the Commonwealth.

Germany, 1870-1945: Politics, State Formation, and War deals with the three attempts to build a German nation-state between 1871 and 1945, and the reasons for their failure. Haunted by the spectre of the abortive liberal-national revolution of 1848-49, German politicians sought a series of solutions, none of which found a constitutional consensus, and two of which ended in military disaster. Pulzer looks at the two solutions imposed from above, those of Bismarck and Hitler, and the stalled revolution from below, that of the Weimar Republic. He examines the external influences on Germany's political development, such as the European state system and the Versailles treaty of 1919, but the main focus is on the tension between democratic and authoritarian forces, the series of unsatisfactory constitutional compromises, the main institutions of government, and the emergence and influence of parties and interest groups.

With the opening of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the unification of 1990 a new German state emerged - the fifth constitutional upheaval and the fourth change of frontiers in this century. This book aims to introduce the reader to the legacy that present-day Germany has inherited from both East and West and from the period before 1945. It looks at the way political life has evolved since the Second World War, tracing the way the political parties, the institutions of government, and social forces have shaped the Germany that we know - and frequently misunderstand - today.